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Thursday, 11 September 2014

Growing Your Own Kombucha SCOBY

So you have decided that you quite like kombucha and you think you might like to start brewing your own.
But you don't know anyone you can get a SCOBY from and you are not sure you want to spend the money buying one. Well not to worry you can brew your own.
The first thing you need to do is go out and buy yourself a nice big bottle of kombucha. You will need at least 500ml of raw kombucha. When you are choosing your bottle of kombucha get one that has floaty bits in it if you can because these floaty bits a little bits of SCOBY culture/mother.

Once you have your kombucha at home you need to pour it into a very clean glass jar along with 2 tablespoons of sugar that have been disolved in 1/4 cup of boiling water and cooled. I suggest you wash it and rinse it well then add a few tablespoons of vinegar swish it all around then give it a rinse with water again.
You then need to cover the top of the jar with a clean piece of cotton fabric like a hankercheif and leave it on your kitchen bench.
Over the next few weeks a SCOBY will begin to form on the top of your kombucha. It may start of looking like a mold spore floating around in the tea and gradually it will form a thin skin over the top.

The SCOBY starting to form

Over a period of about 3 weeks (depending on the temperature) the SCOBY will thicken up and once it gets to between 1/2 and 1 cm thick it is ready to use.

A new SCOBY still building the top layer. All the pale spots willeventually join up

As your SCOBY forms it can be anything from a pale creamy colour to a darker brown and sometimes it can be splotchy too. Be patient and don't freak out that something has gone wrong, just wait. If it has gone wrong it has gone wrong, and there is no harm in waiting a bit longer to see what happens. If it turns out that it does grow mold of any sort you should throw the whole lot away and start again.

Once you have you home grown SCOBY you can make your first batch of kombucha. Because your SCOBY is just a baby you should only make a third of a batch of the recipe I posted here. You can then gradually increase your brew by a third every second batch until you reach the full quantity.

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People are often unreasonable, illogical and self centered; forgive them anyway.
If you are kind, people may accuse you of selfish, ulterior motives; be kind anyway.
If you are successful, you will win some false friends and some true enemies; succeed anyway.
If you find serenity and happiness, they may be jealous; be happy anyway.
Give the world the best you have, it may never be enough; give the world the best you have anyway.
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Mother Theresa

About Me

I am a married 30 something who is keen on living a simple life. At home we focus on eating real unprocessed foods, we use natural remedies when required and try to be as self reliant as possible.
I am a keen cook, fledgling farmer, avid reader, soap maker and enthusiastic gardener.
My husband and I moved from the middle of Brisbane to country Kilcoy so that we could live a simple, uncomplicated life away from the constant pressures of consumerism but have sold up our farm and moved back to the suburbs as we plan our move to New Zealand in 2016. We have already purchased a property there which we are slowly getting set up. We would like to be parents one day and believe that our lifestyle and values will give any children a healthy balanced life.
We are joined on this adventure by our 5 year old dog Jessie and look forward to having chickens and other farm animals again in the near future.